Black Panther

Photo Credits: Dhanu Paran

The panther is a very solitary animal, and usually lives, hunts and travels alone.

Darker individuals in a species are often better camouflaged, and therefore more likely to survive and reproduce.

One of the biggest factors that distinguishes panthers from other big cats is their stealth.

Description:

A panther is defined as amelanistic color variant of other species in the Panthera genus, which includes tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards.

This color variant usually means that the cat is black or dark brown, since melanism is the development of melanin, a dark-colored pigment in the skin. A panther is therefore usually either a black leopard in Asia and Africa, known as Panthera pardus, or a black jaguar in the Americas, known as Panthera onca.

Behaviour:

Panthers are nocturnal, so hunt at night. Their dark fur allows them to seamlessly camouflage with their surroundings, while their excellent eyesight and sense of smell help them to locate prey.

Panthers generally hunt on the ground, but have been known to ambush prey from trees.